33 1/3 N C S + Cuba

How about a jacked up Colombia Road of Death track, it was great fun. I'd heard about this from another ADVer out of Canada doing a ride report in the area and just knew this road was for me, even if I was warned about danger in the area. All my inquiries on the safety of the area from the local military was encouraging enough and it was on:


After staying in Mocoa an extra day after the hike into the End of the World and having the entire hostel to myself using the internet yesterday I took off for the road again on Feb 9, 2012 after a nice breakfast by Philip's staff at Casa del Rio. Philip has a good thing going down in Mocoa and one of the few hostels if not the only one in the district and certainly one of the few with internet connection. Over on this side of Colombia you are off the beaten path to say the least Philip was a super nice guy running a great outfit with loads of stuff to do nearby and farther into the jungle if you are game.


The nice common room with kitchen, the wifi dosen't yet extend out to the dormrooms and other private rooms yet so I homesteaded the long table yesterday and finished up my computer works this morning before taking off with decent skies. I got a chance to see the local little monkeys feeding off some plaintains. They are little bitty monkeys and hard to see in the photos. A mother carrying her baby right to the right of the sign about 7:30 postion:


They blend in well:


I really love me some fresh squeezed oj in the mornings:


My poor old girl waiting out in the weather for the next ride, one tough bitch for what I ask of her


The weather was holding and actually improving as I loaded up and made my way out of town and down to the start of the Death road after topping the tanks. I started my attack on the road climbing up from the valley below and getting enough of a wiff of gasoline I knew it had to be a decent leak so I started to do a little inspection and found again that one of the electrical pins on the fuel pump mounting plate was leaking from the high level of fuel in the forward tanks:


I stopped before the first real water crossing and had a look and ended up blocking in the two front tanks from the main to fix the leak and allow the main tank's level to drop before lining back up the valves of the two forward tanks. Another little fixit problem added to the list for the next repair session. Gave me a chance to catch a oncoming truck passing the water hazard, wasn't much but nice to see how deep with another person's wheels in the water:


I walked it anyway enjoying my new goretex socks, they are worth every penny, I'd been loving them over the last days riding in the rains.
Not a bad place to do a little working on the bike:


This was an impressive road cut that had to take tons of TNT to blast out from the rock face, it was craved out of the jungle and rock and was constantly being repaired to keep it an open passage to the next valley over. It was hard to capture sections of the road as the forest hid it well. A climbing truck above:


Lots of concrete to keep the road attached to the moutainside too:


No mistakes could be made on the open side and the most of the road was only wide enough for one lane and had many turnouts for oncoming traffic to slip by:


I climbed my way up to a high point and with the weather still just holding out for me I pictured Mocoa off in the distant valley below looking back to the Northeast in this picture:


It was nice going and then the rains decided to come back again for a visit, nothing too hard just enough to keep things interesting. I was doing good and enjoying the ride:


Lots of tight coners and overhanging vegetation:


Ever constant possiblities of slides, this road had many wounds still visible from previous closeures. This one from after the high spot coming over from Mocoa but still before the valley in the middle:


Started running into more trucks later in the day heading East after I passed the high point in the road:


Then I dropped into the big beautiful valleySibundoy where from my research on Google Earth the day before and talking with Philip I'd found out there where some hotsprings in the area Sounds like it's time for a good soaking to me. But first a little riding through the valley to the small town of Colon to many strange looks as I passed through the small towns.


But first to a litle tienda that turned out to mostly be a local candy shop for a little ice cream and visit with the locals for a good while:

These are some of the best stops. Turns out I meet the nice shy and pretty owner of the shop and try to talk her into going to the hotsprings with me but she declines but accepts the offer of a fine dinner after I get cleaned up. I head off to the commercialized hot springs but still had a nice time as I picked the one on the left and with my limitied communication skills in the foreign tounge ended up with the normal pool for a good soak and swim for a half hour or so before my little upcoming date with the shop owner.
Had the pool all to myself except right beside a roomfull of people eating in the cafeteria onsite, they got a good laugh of the gringo swimming around in the pool with his waterproof camera Seems this camera was having a hard time as well as it was getting a little foggy behind the lens from all the temperature variations
The green mineral filled waters of the pool, it was nice a hot and felt wonderful, last time I had warm water was back at Larry's great shower in Popayan and I was enjoying this:


The elusive great white caught on film again:


After my little swim and soak I got geared back up and had a little inspection at the place next door that probably would have worked better for me. They had private little tubs for au-natural soaking, and it was cheaper to boot:

I almost went for another soak here but had a hot date so I had to go.

I met back up with Alejandria who was sadly way too camera shy, she was a real sweatheart and we had a nice dinner at a local place with some interesting table conversation and attracting a few other interested parties before we finished our meal. She would only take pictures with her camera and mine was having trouble with the condensation on the lens anyhow. Was a very nice time with a great girl!

Before long as it was already late in the day it was time to head on out of the lovely valley and onto Pasto to meet up with Juan, a friend of Alain's, who knew a good place to put me up for the night. It was a better road over to Pasto and I made quick work of the last miles and set about navigating through Pasto to Mister Pollo where I was set to meet Juan. He was a little late getting around and I got resupplied at the ATM and sat around the nice chicken house drinking some cold beers before he showed up with his daughter. We had a nice limited talk with our two differnt languages but he knew more English (+ with the help of his daughter who knew even more) than my little Spanish vocabulary. I found out enough to know that he had a good cheap hotel for me to stay because he knew the owners and could get me a good rate and that was really all I needed. He went home to pick up his wife and son before leading me out to the place and he got me settled in with some secure parking and a cheap but very comfortable room in the nice auto hotel and it was good. Nice to have the contact with Juan and his great family. Thanks amigo!
That comforatable bed and had a good shower with a limitied amount of hot water available, I made sure to use my entire ration of the nice hot water


The bike was nice and safe down below in the hold:


At this nice place right off the PanAm where it passes through Pasto:

Something like $15 dollars IIRC, the only negative being no wifi.
The following morning I will cross a new border heading South and then pass the Equator for the first time this trip South, going to be a big test to see if I can really break out of Colombia, I was looking forward to it along with having a bike that had overstayed its original paperwork by more than a few months

Nice update! Sounds like your the Don Juan of Colombia!! Looks like the Ole Girl is doing good. The leak is nothing, we all leak when we are rode hard!! The RR is amazing as usual Amigo. Keep safe my friend!!

Nice to see you too AnnaLee Glad to have a break from the bike and spend time with my family and be in one of my favorite places of all. Will be heading back down next Thursday for lots more fun this next go around.

Hola Mark

It took fixing it twice with JB weld to finally get it back to normal, I like keeping all the tanks lined up, keeps me from having to remember which is blocked in and which is lined up, too much like flying Thanks for the help the other day and maybe I can talk you in to some Saturday or Sunday work finishing up swapping over that flatbed. Always nice to have good help Hoping to churn out some more report coming up, easy to get behind but fun getting caught up too

I woke up refreshed and ready to head South, I didn't even care for any breakfast other than a little juice and water and off I went, getting through a little early morning traffic and finding the get on to the PanAm and I was off on wonderful tarmac ride heading South on senic and fast roads heading to Ipiales. Again roads carved right from the moutain's edges, made for great riding:



Shot on the fly while having fun riding:


Before too long all the little roads off the PanAm where calling my name and the traffic on the big road was all the excuse I needed to barrel off on side roads for me fun type of riding that I perfer. You can see from the map that I made most of the run down to near the border on the PanAm and jumped off to the Northeast direction for a little loop coming into Ipiales from the Northside:

The other little deadend in and out at the bottom center of the above map is a well deserved little detour to the famous church in the valley that I know by heart after reading so many SA ride reports.

The little road off the PanAm was a nice little route leading me up into the hills and smaller villages and towns.
Little water break and small rearrangement right at the start of the little turnoff the PanAm:


Smaller more senic roads taking me up into the pretty trees:


Saw some very interesting field drainage lines that reminded me of pictures of the Nasca Lines in Peru, lots of work went into digging these sharp ditches, can't help put think it was partly art related effort:


Nearly rearended a guy on a motorbike over there by that house as I was following him and was watching some of the interesting sites and he slowed up and of course he didn't have a functioning brake light and I strafed him a little avoided hitting him from behind, got to keep on your toes even in the countryside


I came into Ipiales the back way in and got the directions to the church in the valley and went for my look. One of the wildest places I've ever seen a church built, was somekind of special spot on the rocks near the river in the valley below. Pretty damn special spot for all the effort for sure


My proof:


It was worth a closer look. I rode on down the valley and took some time to walk around and have an ice cream break.
Was amazing to see how many pay bathrooms where near the church, must be a lot of retired people with bladder incontinence issues making the trip down the stairs


They have a little "museo" so I took a look to learn a little bit:


I was most interested in the construction years for the big project.
IIRC this is the most holy spot on the valley wall the church was built around:


My dates didn't turn out to good but I'm guessing somewhere in the late 1930s early 1940s with this picture:


This one better and looks to show 1944:


Little more work done and near completion by maybe 1949 from what I can see:


Some other interesting bits in the museum. I liked this one



Don't know why they included these little anomalies


Nice glassworks throughout the place:


A little something something going on inside the place:


Looked like candles had been burning for many many years opposite the church on the other valley wall:


Lots of work went into this one:


Even got a little hydro plant down in the valley to help out with power needs:


Couple of pleasant waterfalls in the near area to make it even prettier:


I made the climb back up the many steps to the parking area but not before rewarding myself with some tasty ice cream and taking in the two goofy dressed up lamas in the parking lot that posed for pictures, I never have trusted these animals before, I damn sure don't trust these two I can only imagine how they must have felt having to wear the costumes
Cowboy Bob:

And sideshow princess:


I had seen enough and was ready to go to Ecuador for awhile.

Refreshed with some good ice cream I loaded back up and headed out of the valley and back to the PanAm crossing with Ecuador. I split lanes and made a fast entry to the Colombian side and waved over to the immigration and DIAN by some friendly money changers. I got out my doctorered up papers not really planning to check my bike out of Colombia legally but kinda of by mistake and handed over my bike's papers. The official takes it and looks at it for a few seconds and says "es copy" I say "is orginal from Cartagena" and with that he looks again and stamps it out good and I'm done in Colombia other that heading over to immigration for a quick stamp out before making the short trip across no man's land to Ecuador side. Was an easy stamp in to the country with just a little sweating because I'd left my yellow fever card back in Oklahoma and noticed a sign saying something about vaccinations:eek1 No questions about that and just a few normal ones before getting stamped in. The aduana for the bike importation was a little longer process and I got in the queue with one other fellow ahead and some woman trying to import a car full of clothes or something that was taking the single worker some time to deal with. I shared some laughs with the guy waiting in line with me and killed the time best we could. The next in line, patience is a beautiful virtue they say


Then my luck improved again as I noticed a little vw camper pass by and new it was another overlander traveling and I was soon introduced to a wonderful traveling couple, a guy from Argentina and his wife from Mexico.

They had bought the van in Mexico and are making a nice long and slow trip back down to Argentina. They spoke English too and when my time came up they made it even more simpiler to find the copy machine and figure out all required copies for the aduana. I forget their site but we swapped stickers and had a nice visit while we waited our turn. Great people who would have been fun to spend more time with but our schedules where too different. They mentioned that they typcially park next to the firestations along their route and have been warmly received at most, not a bad idea. Nice to have your family travel with you:


I spent a fair amount of time waiting for my turn and wanted to get down to the equator by dark and pushed on in the late afternoon for the goal of zeros on the North South lines, getting closer:


Nice tarmac and friendly military check points, I was stopped and ask a few questions and one was "Are you carrying any drugs?" I just smiled and said "No" "I'm one of the good guys" They liked the stickers and all was good. I was looking forward to the cheap fuel and glad to top my tanks a lot cheaper than Colombia. Gas here was $1.48 for the cheap stuff that I like running



I see the familar post I'd seen in so many other RR and pulled into the parking lot and saw the attendant out near the marker and yelled over if it was possible if I wheel over the bike for some good shots and was met with no resistance. Christopher the friendly guy running the place was fine with bring the bike out for a little ride around one of the most important spots on the planet. Another group of tourists from somewhere farther down South took in the little presentation by Chris about the importance of the site and then took the photos. Interesting talk, I chipped in $5 for the nice talk and thankful for having run of the place for pictures.
Mine showed a little off, but my sensitivity wasn't spot on either


Chris giving the talk, in English no less, that was nice touch Their website has some interesting points that make you consider the "lay of the land" www.quitsato.org


Little showy at the midline:


I took a couple of hotlaps around the site and admired the foreign girls taking their photos:


My line was here:


It was getting late and I was ready for a meal and finding a place to lay down for the night and questioned Chris about the first issue and was given directions to a great place nearby that he knew well, well because he lived there

I just followed him there because he was done with the days presentations and he led me to one of the oldest haciendas in Ecuador who's name escapes me. I pulled up and parked and liked what I saw and asked right then a there if he had a place I could camp that night. He said I could camp for free in the garden if I bought dinner and breakfast, it was late enough so it was an easy choice and I bite, it worked well for me as they also had wifi, little limitied on range and plugs ins which is normal for a a very old sturcture such as this. Another interesting note was the place was nearly overrun with a study aboard group of all girls from the states with some nice girl teachers as well, it wasn't so bad, just a little noisey but I was camping well away and didn't have to put up with all the noise but I still enjoyed the conversation with some of the teachers. I had a most excellent soup and fish dinner washed smoothly down with some of their super nice and super size brews as I caught up on some computer business:





I continued working late into the evening with the wifi and it so happened that the girls where putting on a talent show and I was invited for the little event later that evening.

These girls are pretty priviliged to begin with getting sent abroard for study and I was impressed with their talent show skits and it was diffiently something totally different and unexpected site to see that night. My camera has been crapping out and the flash no longer works so my pictures are quite limited but it was a nice time. The one in the purple had a voice that could win many karokee contests for sure


IIRC this was the Spice Girl one:


The teachers did a great skit too and the one in the middle did a wonderful acapella version of Landslide that was amazing, the old hacienda's acoustic in the old dinner hall where great for her voice. Her name escapes me but I had a great time visiting with her that evening.


Seems like a good experience for these young ladies although a little pricey I can only imagine. Seems like they have some realloy good instuctors and the girl I talked to so much,Feebie?? had gone through the program and was now an instructor for the group. They where based out of Montana IIRC and it sounded like they had quite the agenda for their time in Ecuador, needless to say they don't go to Colombia

That night I set up shop in the antiroom of an old church to save from setting the tent to shed any rain that might fall. Was a fine day for my first day in Ecuador, a place worthy of much exploration, especially with all the cheap gas
Got my date stamp fixed on the camera, I missed it too

Felt plenty safe sleeping in here and very nice not having to pull the tent out and the rains did decide to fall.

Great update John! I really want to see that church some day.

I was up early after a comfortable night on the cot and had a walk around the place, I found the name here: http://www.guachala.com/english/index.php Impressive place, little expensive food but very tasty and with free camping and internet it worked out for me, plus some quality entertainment provided by the girls last night at the talent show. I had the place to myself and took some photos and used the internet before my breakfast was scheduled to be served around 8am.




Those are some of the wild assed plants the shamans use to jack you up, Devil's Weed or something


The oldest builing on the property, the chapel across the courtyard from the late 1500s:


My little work station next to the office for wifi, turns out wifi doesn't like 300 yr old walls much


Damn fine breakfast, I think they used Colombian coffee, had some good eggs not pictured, I ended up drinking over half pot of the good coffee in the cool morning.


After my tasty breakfast I took some more pictures around the place:


My comfy and dry sleeping spot in the little room attached to the church, this one built much later in the 1930s


I got my gear sorted out and loaded up after fiddiling with the leaking fuel situation again seeing if I could sort the problem easily but discovered I was going to need some sealant to fix the leak and just ran with the front tanks blocked in to keep the head pressure from pushing out past the bad electrical pin on the pump plate. I then spent more than 4 hours jacking with OSM maps trying to get a decent map loaded for Ecuador since I had been having trouble with my SA map tiles I downloaded last year. After a couple of hours I just bit the bullet and bought GPStravelmaps for Ecuador for around forty bucks to get on with it as I really like having some good mapsets in the garmin as I perfer not to drag out my paper maps for nothing else than reference and making notes. I got maps loaded up and said goodbye to some of the friendly people I met during the morning hours I spent jacking with the maps in the morning. The girls group was going off on a little overnight trip somewhere and I had no other real plans than to find me a hotspring for a good soak and head over to Quito to find something good to eat at an inmates resturant that was supposed to be damn good, here: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=517956
I got my new map up and running good and then asked Chris about hot springs in the area and I got a lead on what he considered the best hotsprings in all of SA, well damn I'm in for that but it sees like a very big claim that I would have to check out. The place he mentioned was down near the town of Papallacta and it just so happened my new map showed a route leading Southeast from my current position so off I went looking for the springs.

I heard about the cobblestone roads in Ecuador a long time before but today would be my first experience with them as I worked my way South along the bumpy and sometimes very slick little bastards, I couldn't hardly believe it when they added topes(speedbump) in a cobblestone road:huh I mean really wtf!
The day was turning into a nice overcast and hit and miss showers as I worked my way down to the town full of hotsprings looking forward to the soak. It was alreay well into the late morning hours before I left the hacienda and I was beating along the cobblestone roads for more than just a few miles when I finally broke out onto more familiar gravel roads leading me higher and higher up in elevation and cooler temperatures. I nearly lost my other dry bag with my little cubano helmet and sandals and some cold weather gear from all the bumping around:


As the temperature dropped gaining elevation I will be damned if the rains didn't start coming on down harder. I was happy to have the heated grips on high and more than once I was tempted to the near verge of pulling out the heated jacket for more comfort by I just headed along climbing the roads up to somekind of national park:


Yeah it was kinda shitty weather but the riding was great so it wasn't so bad a deal:


I passed the small little pueblo of Isacata and hadn't seen more than two vehicles as I worked my way deeping into the mountains and more rain and according to Google Earth was right along the continental divide of SA, not so much on the West side down here
I was passing by this little spring and hoped just by chance it might be a hotspring, it was only a pipedream but I checked it out none the less just to be sure, it was icey cold

Stepped through a hidden mud hole from hell and stepped down in above the knee with one leg and quickly avoided the next step into the sloppy mess, that spring had a pretty good flow rate coming out of the mountain

I came up on a little split in the road and a little maintance type work camp, my route to the right had a little gate that was partially closed with nice little motorbike sign on the right, I just assumed I'd choosen the perfect road for motorbiking and the other road led down to what showed on my map as a one way in dead end town called Oyacachi. Just for the hell of it I pulled up to the little work shop looking area that had a backhoe parked outside and pulled up to see if anyone was around, maybe I could score a hot cup of something. I met a surprised looking fellow and worked with my best Spanish and inquired about the road down to Papallacta and was met with something that really sounded like it sucked big time. From what I understand he was saying I could only ride down to the dead in town or back up the way I'd come in because even the though the road to the right had a nice little motorbike sign, I needed to have a "premissio" paper to take the route. I was a little upset by hearing this after all the effort I put into making the trip down to this point and putting up with the shit conditions. I showed him by bike import papers for Ecuador from the aduana giving me premission for all of Ecuador and I was meet with resistance. I tried to get my point across that I really needed to get down to Papallacta and on to Quito as it was late in the day and witht he bad conditions and all it was very necessary. I was still met with resistance and then I asked to speak with the boss just being difficult and another fellow working the little work camp came to check, him being no more official than the first dude I just resigned and headed off saying I was going to go have a talk with the "el heffe" and seeing how the gate was open enough for me and if I hadn't stopped to talk to these guys in the first place I would have been taking off to begine with I just darted through the open gate mainly because there was no way in hell I wanted to go back out the long and wet road I'd just come in when I was no more than 40miles out from Papallacta and the warm welcoming water. I had expected a little chase but the crappy cold and raining conditions and their warm hut kept them at bay and I headed off into the great unknown. I wasn't sure why the premission was needed or even where I could get it, I never saw a road side earlier on that said anything about moto premissio and seeing a previous motorbike track in the road made me feel a little better about the whole bit even if it was going to mean a little bit of trouble I noticed no one was following and settled into the great ride of decents and climbs in and out of the many valleys I rode though, it really was a great ride and the rains let up leaving just the cold and it was good. I didn't want to take many pictures as I was trying to be quick about my little passing through this special area. I saw a few head of cattle grazing and then just two other vehicles out in the area on the trip of 20+ miles in the mountains. I was sure to be stopped by the other vehicles but they didn't look official at all and I gave my friendly wave to the people and was met with the same, maybe this wasn't going to be such a big deal afterall but I still kinda thought the worst and wanted to get out of this "park area" The views where something else different than what I'd seen so far in Ecuador and the climbing up the valleys was great fun with a free wrist on the gas hard, some where a little technical but I managed all without problem. I only took two photos in the zone when I had to piss, it was a shame because I would have liked to take hundreds:




Most of the track was North of 12500' and I remeber even getting a bit over 13k at some of the highest points along the way as I got into the lake areas toward the end of the zone. All throughout the valley there was a net work of pipelines and pumping stations with little feeder roads coming off the main track. I could only figure it was somekind of waterworks program as it didn't seem to be oil or gas related but what do I know. On the last decent I spied a car off in the distance near small lake that appeared to be man-made, looked like it was a small group having a little bonfire but I didn't want to find out differently as I was still trying to be as stealthy as I could. Not wanting to draw much attention to myself I shut the motor down and coasted down and across the bridge before starting back up after passing by. Just a short ways more I came up on the first gated crossing since that last open gate and this time was not so lucky, it was a chain across the road and with an orange traffic cone. Again I killed the motor and coasted up on it to inspect and again meet with a little worker's buidling with a car or two out front but no one maning the gate. I help myself to drop the chain from it's hook without getting off the bike and in my hurry took out the orange cone and it balled up under the bike nearly upsettting me as I gained momentum after quietly passing the building and firing the bike again to make my get away, hell yeah I was free with little trouble and apparently no advanced warning that some rouge gringo was out in the special area raising hell or something worse I was kinda expecting to get stopped and reamed for my little action and was presently surprised to get through with little trouble more than one orange traffic cone nearly giving me fits! I dropped way down into a long valley as the Garmin showed me I was very near my goal now. I continued on down as I thought I was no free but didn't dilly dally around as I kept on with my good pace, almost to trouble as this lower section was much muddier and a whole lot slicker, I was hoping for no mistakes as I was being quick about it. I came into a fairly big gaterhing of buildings and damn if there wasn't another closed gate:eek1 I thought they had me here but as I came into the back side of the compound I saw the gate guard as he was 30 yrs or more from the gate and I gave another big wave as I met him and kept on it for the gate that was thankfully just a drop latch and then quickly helped myself once more and then used the front wheel to push on the big chainlink swinging gate and got the hell out of there just as I knew I would be feeling a hand tug on my bike's pannier rack stopping me from my escape. That grab thankfully never came before I got the gate swung open enough to power through to my freedom sans ticket or trouble. This same area unfortunately was also the nice hotsprings area I was told of by Chris eariler in the day and needless to say I was a little too worried about who might be waiting around for afterwards if I stopped for a nice soak, that part sucked the most but the riding was damn fun. Kinda or a bad way to start off my Ecuador trip but this is the thing I dislike most already about Ecuador, the rules; this darn sure ain't Colombia anymore where you can go where you like only having to worry about the bad guys and not the park patrol wanting permission for motorbikes:huh Glad to get free from the mess and sad to leave the hotsprings behind but was looking forward to a nice dinner in Quito @ Quido's place.

I got out to the big roads again at Papallacta and got hooked up going fast to Quito and on to the numbers I'd locked into the GPS. I had to stop after a little ways and break out the electric jacket as the speeds I was carrying dropped the chill too low to put up with anylonger and fell into a little piece of motorcycle heaven having the electrics cranked up and felling good. It was getting damn cold as I climbed back over some mountains to get to Quito, I swore I was in icing conditions, the foot drag coundn't really tell me but the front end acted for sure like some ice was developing on the tarmac as I continued on beating toward Quito for food, beer and warmth. I passed another bike pulled out over at at little shop and could only thing he was done putting up with the ice as I powered on down trying not to slide out over the bad spots. I felt a little bad about not pulling around but I was wanting to beat most of the night to my destination so I kept on track and finally got into the outskirts of the city to much warmer conditions as I navigated through the big city and ended up passing throug a free tunnel to get to where I needed to go. I really dig these, especially the free ones

Even got a curve in it, my camera didn't like the conditions much:



I got myself routed to Guido's place call Los Choris easy enough after just a few one way get arounds:



They had exactly what I needed:

I love the fullsize beers, they all should be like this
I forget his name but Guido's little manager was a super helpful dude, his a rider himself, and he got me hooked up with some GPS numbers for Casa Helbling that it just right near by, thank man


I had one of those wonderful steak sandwiches I'd heard so much about and concur it is damn good


One happy camper after a wild and fun day in the saddle breaking the rules already in Ecuador, I felt a little bad about it but hey, it's just a road and I didn't go off ripping new single track or anything, it could have been much worse


One of those deals traveling on a bike alone that I will always be thankful for is how approachable a person is and the people you meet along the way and today was a fine example:
Finishing up my dinner and drinks I was standing near the front talking with the manager and up pulls a little crewcab 4x4 with a pleasant couple who questions in English about the bike. We have a short visit and they ask what I'm doing tomorrow and I just say whatever you guys had in mind and it was done like that. We would meet and take a day ride out around Quito with Raul and Karla who ride a KTM 640A. You truely met the nicest people on a motorbike! We exchanged numbers and email addresses and the plan for tomorrow was on.

I got digits dailed in for the hostel Chrashy had told me about last year in Medellin and went over for a look and was informed they where all booked out I was in the process of arranging to set up the cot or tent or whatever when I met a brother from another mother, Hector from the Canary Islands, who now hails from Campeche, Yucantan, Mexico but is working on a major hydro-electrical project in Ecuador for many months. He was one of those guys that from first meeting him you know he is one of your new good friends He took me in to his room after he confirmed I was not a aggressive homosexual and gave me a spot on the floor and then I got cleaned up and we went out looking for trouble and found a really nice time Always great to meet new cool friends, Hector and I share many similar interests and got along well. He's also a biker and into 4x4 amoung others. I was sad I had a bit of a schedule to keep or we could have gotten into a whole lot more fun for sure. I had to get him to move his uber cool LC with it's massive PTO winch on front to get my big girl a spot to park for the night. I wish I'd gotten more of this neat rig:


We stayed out a little ways into the next day hitting up a few different spots along the way and ended up at a nice little patio bar in a great party plaza near the hostel. It was a fantastic finish to a great day of riding and not getting into trouble It was too easy to make plans for more fun to come, I already had plans set up for tomorrow with Raul and Karla and would have liked to have been able to spend more time hanging out with Hector too. We had already started planning days out in advance of fun things to see and do. Really great meeting wonderful people! Tomorrow should be great fun

You met Hector. He and his Cruiser were there at Casa Helbling when I was there, what, maybe 2 years ago? Funny guy, full of stories.

Thanks Mike. I'm really not into seeing churches that much but this one was one of the prettiest ones I've ever seen. Hope you get your chance, I knew this church long before I ever rode my bike down here to look at it

Well I knew he was working in Ecuador for some time now but damn:eek1

I can only imagine that you and Hector hit it off as well as he and I did. He and I are pretty similar except his Spanish is way better and I'm younger He's a cool dude
I see that Radioman has been spending some quality time hanging out with the man too, he gets around meeting the ADV crowd from the sound of it. I'm looking forward to getting back into Mexico and heading out to the Yucatan to do some more partying with Hector, always fun to have a local contact who knows all the good places

Here's to the cool people we meet on the roadYour on my list dude!

So he doesn't mind a passive one ?

Great update amigo!

John,

I was beginning to wonder where the heck you were! Glad to see you made it back home safely. Doors open anytime you roll thru Popayan! But you already know that!

Yep got in as planned on March 1 and went to my brother's wedding in Eureka Springs two days later for a nice weekend with the family and friends. I've having been getting my taxes finished up and working on quite a few projects around the place before flying out on Thursday the 15th , I almost want to delay the trip back down South but going to let stuff go for a little while longer and get on the plane Thursday evening and get back in it. Looking like I will be heading back to Colombia to finish up a little leftover business before coming back to the East.

Thanks to SS in Caracas for putting my bike up for a couple weeks for me, he's another one of the good guys like you Larry Even if he cracks funnies about me being a passive homosexual and Crashy egging on they are still some of the best kind of friends. Thanks for the offer and if I get that far back down in Colombia I will come back by again amigo

Looking forward to more adventures down South, will try to get some more down this evening, seems I have less time here than there

The loose plans we had set up day before at Los Choris where a little slow getting started but it wasn't a problem with the previous night's action. I got up and Hector and I visited and talked about all things fun and planned more adventures, he was already planning a little trip with a couple of cute swedes that I hated to miss out on but I had obligations to keep with my new moto friends, Raul and Karla. They where right in the middle of trying to swap apartments and had some business left to finish up before we took off just a little later than expected.
Hector had some business as welll to take care of over email and I wasn't one to want to interupt as I stripped off some of the extra baggage on my bike to leave at the room at the hostel. Hector was right in the middle of something I didn't want to interupt when my friends showed up for the ride so it wasn't much of a goodbye and I made a quick exit for the day ride.

Raul got a nice late model KTM 640 Adventure and Karla is an excellent pillion rider and enjoyes the trips. These are some nice people here:

Raul's batteries down so low his kicking the beast each time, he's got dialed in fairly well as he fires it off pretty easily it seemed to me.

They led me down some curvy local roads down to a statue of some important old character that supposedly travel the souce of the mighty Amazon or some other major river, IIRC he was a Spaniard, looked like one at least here:


He was right next to a nice old church as we made our way out of town to the North.


I was happy to just be able to follow along and be shown the good stuff.


And before we had barely left the town Raul was already pulling out the dirt roads with his nice Alt Route down the valley instead of having to ride the PanAm, was a most excellent shortcut through the hills with some fun sections, it looked like this used to be the old PanAm route to me as you could tell at some point long past it was a much more untilized route, presently it is blocked to all traffic but the sneakiest motos Raul Alt Route, notice the bypass of the main paved route:


Nice little track, I got a couple of pictures off on the fly, I was thinking he was trying to get me hung in this one little technically section, not shown here.


I was enjoying it myself as well:


Nice views and good pathway with even a little bit of old cobblestone thrown in for good measure:


We rejoined the big road and made our way up to the North and stopped for a little beather at this nice turnout for a little visit about the geography of Ecuador and its many distinct and different temperant valleys, most having a different type of climate conditions.


Little photo op nice to have a pillion passenger, thanks Karla!


He took me up right past the marker for the Equator that I'd stopped at the day before and then right down a turn off for a resturant that I damn near turned in to just before coming to the marker, funny I thought to myself. Cafe de la Vaca, can't miss the Holstein cow pattern sign. Turns out his sister and brother-in-law own the place, I mean places as there are more than a few of these great resturants around Ecuador and what a place it was. I got the works here thanks to Raul and Karla and it was by far one of the top ranking places I'd eaten the entire trip if not the best.

They even had an old styled John Deere out front with late model decals, thinking it was an A from the looks of it. My dad used to be a pretty major collector and old tractor puller himself, I always like the multicylinder Farmalls, MM, and Olivers a little more than the old poppers but have enough expereince with them, they are a great and simple design and easy to keep running over the years.


Thanks Raul what a special treat, I'm so glad you stopped by the resturant the other day
Here with a photo related to his father of a setting just a ways up the hill behind this resturant's location.


Two wonderful people in Ecuador who treated me wonderfully, thanks guys! I liked this shot I got of you two


Most of the meal breakdown montage:

Big damn frijoles and some special dipping sauces that was nice, in the shell or out however you like:


I forget the name of these little things but they where yummy too:


Of course soup and the previously mentioned special sauce above:


Special drink for Karla, I had a beer and something else that was nice:


And the main course, this is a fine meal, I don't really care for horseraddish if that is what it really was but the way they prepared it with some raisins they stuff was most excellent


The meat was to die forA near perfect cut for the day:


I don't know how I did but I missed the wonderful desert we all split, it was just a fabulous meal and wonderful company to take it such a great experience.

And of course the cup at the end for good measure:


Beautiful setting right near the equator, how's that for something for the kids to play with before you eat, a nice little zipline, oh to be a kid again, I damn near went out for a little trip

I love the lush green grass, nice spot for a afternoon nap

We ended up meeting a dentist who'd come back home after working in the states for many years, he had a much cheaper rate for root canals than my last one costs He got a little inspection, all's good for now

Nice little visit with the man and his family as we where heading out.

Can't miss this place with this kind of paint:

I felt like we where guests of honor here, very nice place to spend a lunchtime

We our bellies full we rolled out and back South towards Qutio:


And of course we opted for the little bypass going back up the hill on the way back in, I duffed the photo as I'd went on ahead and tried to get an action shot of them coming up the grade but hit the wrong button at the right time


We made it back into Quito in the late afternoon hours and stopped by their apartment before I headed back over to the hostel. It was a good thing we did as when I got back to the hostel I got knews of Hector's hasty departure with the two Swedes out to Mindo as he didn't have his room avaliable for the night. He'd packed up all my gear I left behind and left it with the friendly hostel staff and a note about the situation. I quickly skyped Raul and asked if I could crash over at his and Karla's place as the hostel was booked out and it would be nicer to stay with my new friends than sleep on roof in the tent at the packed hostel. Raul was fine with it and I routed myself over to their place for the night which worked perfect for me. I still had a few things to take care of with online and had a beer or two at the hostel with one of the nicer staff members at Casa Helbling, she made me a nice little gift from my beer bottle, check the translation, I liked her sense of humor and her great English skills


Nice trick she did:



I made my way over to Raul and Karla's apartment in the dark eveing hour and crashed hard out on the couch after a nice visit and meeting of Karla's two boys Sebastian and Matis, what a great day in Ecuador and a nice place to sleep after Hector bailed out on me, I got by just fine with my other real friends

I was going to spend a couple days hanging out around town and see what I could get into spending some good times with my new friends.

I had to go home for 2 weeks for my brother's wedding and finish up the the taxes. I left out of Venezuela and left the bike with SS in Vnzl to watch over it while I was away for the too short trip back home. Thanks amigo

Was wonderful time with my family at the wedding and getting to be back around the house for a the time I had left.
The people nearest & dearest to me


My brother's big day, really happy I could be there for it!


I even got a chance to get my riding jacket repaired from that last little hangup outside of Caracas and also get some pie (course I had to by the whole other pie) in Oark right before the wedding.
Thanks Amanda, another great job on the jacket


Oh that pie was nice, I brought back the whole thing so my relatives could try some of the goodness too

I had some projects going at home and ran into a couple of standstills before it was time to get back on the plane again. Had a late night flight out of IAH last night or very early this morning, leaving about 2:45AM and showing up @ 8:01AM local time where Silviu picked me up at the airport.

Nice break from down South but ready to ride again, think I need to go back to Colombia for just a little bit more

Will be working more on getting this report caught up, not going to do a day by day blow so much any more except where the better stories warrant it. The normal report will stil be posted in orange for those I keep confusing with all the posts More later...

Damn!!!! You buff out real good dude

John, Glad to hear from you bro........ as always, door is always open!

Today, i was shopping with Lizzy and parked my ride out front and tossed my helmet on the mirror. ( Good neighborhood! ) Some guy comes in and asks if the Tornado is mine. I said: Yes sir........ thinking i was blocking his driveway! he tells me a thief stole my helmet. So i mount up and go looking. I found a street bum with a box and stopped him in an intersection. He got really upset and as he went for his knife......... i simply pulled my 9mm pistol. he screamed and tossed the box at me. Oh well, i grabbed my helmet and left his other holdings at the intersection!! jhahahahha.......... i would have gave him a $20 for good luck....... but he was long gone and screaming up the hill!! When you come thru.......... dinner and drinks on me bro. Keep the shiny side up! C

nice, Thorncrown Chapel.

Cool.

My, my, but he does clean up good for an Okie!

Nice catch camgregus! I shot my first (and last) wedding in Thorncrown!

Great place for the ceremony John. Glad you could make it back for your brother and his new bride!

Thanks dude, I never seem to get that response from the ladies
Not much more than a clean shave and some fresh clothes.

You are a wild man Larry! If I get back down that far I will surely stop by. Thanks for the good times amigo

I'd seen it alot in pictures and it was my first time at the place in real life, was a great setting. They run weddings through there like cattle getting work through the chutes Thankfully his was the last of the day and we where not rushed and had plenty of time hanging out and getting a bunch of pictures made before coming back to the Basin for the rest of it.

Thanks for the kind words. It was all their doing, I just showed up and wear what they gave me It was wonderful getting back up for the wedding and spending time with the family and getting to be back home, it would have taken one hell of a wreck to keep me from it


----------------------------------------------------------------------

I've been slacking from updating the report as it is super difficult when you are hanging out with wonderful people in the land of nearly free gasonline(I still can't get over that)

I have visited a lot with Silviu (SS in Vnzl) about ithe country and said how Venezuela could have been the Dubai of South America. It is sad to see that the leadership had not handled the wealth of black gold better than it has. It could be far worse here but it could also be so much better, this is after all the only non Middle Eastern country member of OPEC. This place could be a heaven instead of what it has become a city living in a shroud of danger and fear. I feel like an theif stealing my way into Caracas after each ride coming back into town, there is a real security situation that is associated with being in this huge sprawling city, it is not a joy ride to be taken lightly and riding with purpose and intensity is the norm. I'm glad I have a great set of guides in Silviu and his pals, they all great guys and have taken wonderful care of me during my time here in the big city. I still like it and enjoy the beautiful city from my perch here and relish the experience and love the free gas but it has been a much different feel than I've felt before in other big cities during this trip, I'm ready for the nice country leaving again and the inside of my tent

Evidence: a load of meats, a case of beer, and bottle of fine rum for a nice barbque the first night of my arrival:


Some good guys:

And another one:


I've got to go back to Colombia just once more and then onto the East after securing Brazillian Visa. Got some nice plans going West to Colombia through the Andes and beyond. More when I get caught up if I ever do

HF